Draft value and the Rays draft

by ttnorm on Jun 10, 2011 6:20 PM EDT

There seems to have been much more of a run on singable guys by almost every team that I expected. From the sounds of the comments on the draft threads, I was not alone.

The Rays are a team that seems to understand how to mine value out of their entire operation. The selected Guerreri who should cost a bundle to sign. I am assuming that they thought the pick made sense on their cost benefit analysis. Do you believe that they thought Guerreri had a unique value compared to the other high school arms that they would later pass over like Henry Owens, Daniel Norris, or Dillon Howard.

I would be disappointed to hear that their draft budget had a hard cap forcing the selection lesser players. This is afterall a team with an operating budget of that can afford to spend more than $10 million each season on free agents. Given the MLB salary structure of players in their first 6 seasons, isn't there a more compelling case for the Rays (or any team) to devote more resources to the draft than to free agents than they do?

Poll

Realizing it is not who you draft but who you can sign that counts, is it your gut feeling right now that your team

Over emphasized signability over talent and will not get the impact players they needed.

10 votes

Over emphasized talent over signability and will regret the ones who got away.

3 votes

Got the right mix and will look back fondly on this draft.

10 votes

Is the Red Sox and doesn't understand the concept of draftees attending college.

5 votes

28 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

I hate that argument

Teams pay $10M/20m/30m whatever on free agency because 1)they know, pretty much, what they are getting 2) it helps them win now and 3)it sells tickets. As much as we value prospects around these parts they are still VERY risky plays, and asking a team to put 50% (ballpark) of their annual budget into the draft each year will soon see a team with no budget to resign players later and a lot of busts sucking up bonuses.

by ADLC on Jun 10, 2011 6:52 PM EDT reply actions

I understand this point

but, it has been shown that mlb draftees do not a very high signing bonus, at least in comparison to other sports. No one is asking teams to spend 50% of their budget on the draft. Most teams don’t come close to spending a quarter. If my team had a chance to take 10 picks in the first 2 rounds, I’d expect my team make a splash. Not saying the Rays didn’t do well, but I think they could have drafted a little more aggressively.

by asyouwish33 on Jun 10, 2011 8:29 PM EDT up reply actions